


The Devil's Hand

by inquisitor_tohru



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Gen, Martin Brenner Being an Asshole, My Apologies to the British National Association of Spiritualists, Mysterious Victorian Urchin Eleven, Paranormal research, The Upside Down, Unethical Experimentation, Will Byers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25734124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inquisitor_tohru/pseuds/inquisitor_tohru
Summary: The members of the British National Association of Spiritualists had expected to make contact with ghosts, or at least uncover an explanation for the ghostly apparitions that plagued young Will Byers. What they found was something far worse.
Relationships: Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: The Prince Regent's Birthday Regency/Victorian Flash Exchange





	The Devil's Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gloss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloss/gifts).



The members of the British National Association of Spiritualists had expected to make contact with ghosts, or at least uncover an explanation for the ghostly apparitions that plagued young Will Byers. What they found was something far worse. 

In what first appeared to be an unrelated event, two researchers were found dead outside the urchin girl's cell. She was gone. And  _ then _ they discovered that Will Byers was gone.

"What will we tell his mother?"

"Never mind that," Brenner snapped, rubbing his temples. He couldn't care less about Will Byers when his prized specimen had slipped away. But he  _ would _ find her again - he always did.

Will woke up somewhere very dark and very cold, that definitely wasn't the BNAS facility. He was dusting down his waistcoat and trousers when he heard the twig snap. Someone else was there with him, and every instinct told him to  _ run.  _

He ran as if he were tumbling into a void, his eyes still adjusting to the darkness surrounding him. Something that might have been nothing more sinister than a vine or the twisted root of an old tree seemed to grasp at one of his ankles, but Will wasn't taking any chances. He ran, and ran, and ran.

He didn't remember stopping, but the next time Will opened his eyes he was at home...yet not at home. The gas lamps in the narrow street had an eerie red glow that spilled across the cobblestones like blood and the houses that ought to have been inhabited by several families were empty. He leaned on the water pump as he brushed more flecks of dust from his waistcoat, and froze when his hand came away sticky. Something touched Will's other arm, but he held his ground. He did not scream. He did not run. He was tired of running.

It was only an urchin girl, though she was wearing an oversized shirt and patched-up trousers instead of a dress, and her brown hair was cropped even shorter than his. She didn't seem to belong here any more than he did, and he sensed no wickedness. She took his hands in hers, ignoring the gooey ectoplasm that clung to his skin, and said one word.

_ "Hide."  _

The gas lights flickered, and she vanished as quickly as she appeared, the warmth of her hands on his the only evidence of her being there at all. Red lightning flashed, slicing the sky in two, and then he saw it, the  _ thing _ he'd been running from, and he understood why he could run no more. Its thick, shadowy tendrils encompassed the whole of the city like a twisted devil's hand, bigger than the sky and radiating malevolence in its purest form.

No one could run from that. Will took the mysterious urchin girl's advice and he  _ hid. _


End file.
